While
in Denver on business, I took advantage of my location to spend a few
hours (and several rolls of film) at Colorado Railcar's Ft. Lupton shops.
The results were quite interesting, and several of the overall photos
are shared in this gallery. You will also find photos in several other
galleries that are linked throughout.

Colorado
Railcar Manufacturing is a private business, and has no obligation to
open its doors when any Joe off the street comes knocking. So I felt
a great deal of gratitude for the warm reception I received when I arrived,
and for the time that several CRM staffers took to answer my questions
and escort me around the facility. While a large number of people are
to be thanked, I'd especially like to give my thanks to CRM VP Tom Janaky,
who helped arrange the tour, and Steve Peck, who took time out of a
busy day to show me around.

I had looked
at several maps before flying in, and had a good feel for the location
of the shop. As we closed on Denver International Airport, the Front
Range faded into the distance and I saw what I figured was the shop,
and snapped a quick frame shortly before landing on the outside chance
that I was right. Turns out I lucked out and got the shop.

From the
outside, Colorado Railcar is a nondescript, squarish warehouse (at center
of frame, identified by the arrow.) It doesn't stand out like you'd
expect the birthplace for some of the most luxurious railcars on the
planet would. Only a small sign by the road identifies the location
to passers by.

I couldn't
have picked a better time to visit CRM's shops. My Nov., 2003 visit
timed out nicely with the construction of several cars, including (from
right to left) Rocky Mountaineer 9523, Holland
America 1056, 1055,
1057 and 1054.
All five cars were in various states of construction, affording a very
interesting view of the later part of the process. It will be interesting
if I am ever to get back in the future to see the difference in complexion
that the shop takes on when it moves into regular DMU production.

A look
at the manufacturing process can be seen by following this
link. We also took time to tour the inside of RMR
9523, and HALX 1055
while they were under construction.

Amazingly
enough, the five cars only took up a fraction of the expansive shop,
which also has sections dedicated to initial layup, truck rebuilding,
parts fabrication and other use, as well as generous office space for
the shop staff. A separate administrative office is kept in nearby Evergreen,
CO.

Two different
styles of seats in four different samples of decor. The top seats are
destined for RMR 9523, while the other seats will be used in the Holland
America cars. Row after row of the sealed up seats were staged along
one wall of the complex awaiting installation in the railcars once they
near completion.
At the time of the visit, none of the cars had seats installed.

Outside,
remnants of former projects, parts and displays sit side by side, a
reflection of the company's past and a tantalizing nod to its future.
Perhaps the most graphic description of the latter is the pair of demo
cars that sit right outside the shop. Mezzanine lounge car LC-2
and sleeper car SC-1 are partially
decorated to show some other applications of the ultradome cars. They
are so interesting that they merited their own photo
gallery, which I hope you'll enjoy.

Out behind
the shop, there are several other cars that have been assembled for
various purposes. The two ex-Chicago & Northwestern commuter cars
were purchased primarily for their trucks, while the sleeper cars were
purchased for another project. At the left is the now famous hot
tub car that was in the process of being built for the Marlboro
Unlimited. It is a single level car, and may be refitted some day as
a diner.

Ultradomes
in waiting? Distant cousins? While the first four cars were built from
bilevels like these, It's a common misconception, that they still are
today. We've hopefully put that to rest in the new manufacturing
section. So what exactly are these ex-CNW bilevels doing behind
the CRM shop? Trading in their trucks and other parts. That's about
it. As an aside, I'm kind of interested in these cars, as there was
a long line of them parked at the Port of Pasco industrial complex where
I used to live, and they were painted the exact same way. I recall one
of them being shipped out a number of years ago, but I don't recall
exactly where. I think it might have been here. There are still three
cars  all painted the same way  in Pasco, and
several more in Alaska. Anybody know anything about this all?

Gallery
seating inside the car shown above. It hardly matches the ultradome
style.
But then the car was built for one purpose, and that was moving large
numbers of commuters back and forth as efficiently as possible. And
that it accomplishes. I did find the luggage rack in the center quite
interesting. It's hard to imagine that the first four ultradomes started
out that way.

CRM's well-traveled
DMU demonstrator was also in the shop for some running maintenance before
hitting the road again. While the cars inside were getting their fair
share of attention, the DMU was the clear star of the show, meriting
a frenzy of activity from all sides.

While luxury
railcar building is Colorado Railcar's bread and butter, the actual
market for such cars is quite limited. Seeking to meet another need,
CRM set out a few years ago to design a commuter vehicle that would
meet the stringent new FRA safety requirements, and steer the company
into another field of operation. The DMU is
the result of that effort, and has spent most of its career traveling
from city to city on a rigorous demonstration campaign that has taken
it from the tip of the Florida panhandle to the remote rail corridors
of Alaska. While the prototype had yet to yield an actual order at the
time of our visit, there were several possibilities which would hopefully
reach fruition soon.

Colorado
Railcar has invested literally millions of dollars in the design and
development of this prototype, and hasn't wasted any chance to get the
car before the public eye. In its first two seasons, it has done demonstration
duties in nearly every major metropolitan area in the United States,
and even paid a visit or two to Canada. And
with that rigorous demo schedule has come the need for a little touching
up, and a few modifications.

I was very
fortunate to conclude my tour of the facility with a closer look at
the DMU prototype. It will be interesting to see what changes have taken
place at the facility when and if I am fortunate enough to return. But
in the mean time, I owe a debt of gratitude to the employees of Colorado
Railcar for hosting me for an afternoon at the facility. I hope these
tours help give a little flavor of what it's like at the birthplace
of the world's most luxurious dome cars.

In
August, 2004, I toured the shop again, and composed a second
tour page with photos from that visit. You can find that page by
following this link. Enjoy!

Use
the back button on your browser to return to the car roster page that
you came from.